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| Backpacker Sarah lived on houseboat with boyfriend |
On the second anniversary of her murder Vic has returned to the area near Srinagar, the capital of Kashmir, to search for the truth of what happened to his youngest child – and only daughter.
Police say Dutch tourist Richard de Wit initially admitted the killing, claiming he was “possessed by the devil.”
But de Wit has since told Vic face to face that he did not murder Sarah.
After walking into the cramped, wooden-panelled bedroom Vic struggled to hold back his tears as his thoughts turned to his happy and carefree daughter – and what happened to her the night she died.
Sitting on the bed, softly spoken Vic whispered gently: “Love you, Sarah.”
He admitted: “This is the difficult room for me. It’s very emotional, where my daughter died two years ago in horrendous circumstances. There just seems no rhyme nor reason.
“It is extremely peaceful at night. It is a very calm place in the world. How this could have happened here without people hearing… I just do not know.”
I joined Vic at the crime scene – a houseboat called New Beauty – so that together we could begin to reconstruct events of that night in April 2013.
Manchester-born Sarah had been living on the boat for two months with her boyfriend, Saeed Shoda, then aged 25, who she had met in Goa. The boat, owned by his parents, was his family home.
Dutch tourist de Wit, 43, had spent three days staying with the family, on board the boat.
He was arrested in the early hours after Sarah’s body was discovered in a pool of blood. De Wit has been in a Kashmiri prison ever since, with court proceedings beset by constant delays.
After apparently confessing to killing Sarah, he now denies it was him that did it.
Vic, who has four other children, said: “She had a great time in Goa, the fun capital of India, and was persuaded to come to Kashmir – against our wishes.
“Whether she liked it as much I don’t know. She was more locked in, certainly adapting to the local community, their habits, their ways. But it wasn’t truly Sarah beneath it all.
“Clearly it was one of our aims to get her out of here. We know Saeed had persuaded Sarah to part with the equivalent of £6,000, which was a great concern to us.”
Vic and wife Kate had so feared for their daughter’s safety in the strife-torn region that they had booked her a flight to Nepal, where the fitness instructor was to join a climb on Everest.
They had planned to fly out to meet her at the end – but Sarah never made the trip.
The family contacted me for help in examining the case because of their frustration at the police investigation and the endless court delays.
Vic said: “Any excuse you can think of has caused delays one way or another. We’ve had the kitchen sink thrown at us.
“What’s taken two years could have been done in eight or nine months.”
After a month reviewing the case files, examining photographs and statements, I flew with Vic to Srinigar where we could examine the key elements for ourselves.
Credit: Daily Mirror
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